I want to buy a telescope, but I'm clueless...

[ExigeEvan]

Figured this is the best place to ask but...

Down the beach the other I night I was shooting a few stars, I can spot the Big Dipper and know that the North star is approx 5 lengths off the end etc. Anyway, while were looking there was a fast moving spec travelling a very straight south-north track. Now seeing it with the bare eye I assumed it was a polar-orbitting artificial satellite, was I right?

 

[ferrari_chris]

Don't know the specifics, but it was a satellite, yes.

 

[Touring Mars]

My Mum just called to ask me what she saw the other night, and a bit of detective work shows that it was almost certainly Jupiter. The dog was acting up and wanting to go outside for a pee at 2.30 am, and my Mum noticed an extremely bright object in a clear patch of sky. I used HNSKY to spin back to Tuesday night and figure out what it might have been. Sure enough, Jupiter is in exactly the right spot. I've still never seen it through my telescope, so hopefully I'll give it a bash this weekend when I am through at my Mum's. Unfortunately, it seems that it only reaches high enough in the night sky at this time of year to be visible when it is dark, so it looks like it will be a late one for me on Friday or Saturday! Either way, I'm hoping to see some detail (if I get to see it at all, that is!) and shall report back...👍

 

[wfooshee]

With my dad's 'scope (refractor, don't know the details, but enough that the moon doesn't fit in its field of view) I've made out Jupiter as a small disc, but could not see actual color bands. The Galilean moons were easy to spot, though. Hope you get a good view!

 

[homeforsummer]

That Stellarium software is fantastic for discovering exactly what you've seen. I recently used it to find out which constellations I'd taken a (rather bad) photo of when I was camping in Big Sur, California a couple of years back. Got the time and date from the photo, dropped it into Stellarium and bingo, there were my stars. Amazing.

According to the software at the moment, Jupiter is "visible" close to the moon in the Southern sky at the moment. Quotation marks used because the light from the moon will likely drown out that of Jupiter.

When I have a bit more disposable income my next purchase (car aside) will be a telescope compatible with my Nikon, preferably one with an automatic orbital tracker for some nice blur-free photographs. I'm absolutely fascinated by astronomy at the moment.

 

[Touring Mars]

Hope you get a good view!

👍

I did indeed, and it was clearly visible from 10.30-12.30 on Friday night, before a swathe of clouds covered the sky.

Using the 10mm ("Super 10"; 120x mag) lens, I could clearly see the planet and four moons. It wasn't razor-sharp, but I could see detail on the disc - it appeared yellow with a few darker (orange) stripes across the face. I could also make out the fact that it isn't spherical too, despite the slight blurriness of the edges of the disc. It still appears quite small - about the same size this: viewed from about 1 ft away. The "Super 25" lens gave a much sharper image but it was too small to make out surface detail. The Barlow (2x) lens made the image too blurred to see the detail, since the contrast between the light and dark stripes was quite weak.

Anyway, as a life-long object of interest, I'm delighted to finally be able to say that I've seen Jupiter with my own eyes. I can only imagine how much better it will look on a more professional scope, or with better optics etc., but for a £200 beginner scope, I'm more than happy with the view I got.

 

[wfooshee]

Kewl!!!! Next up, Saturn!!!!

(Don't know where it is right now, though. Haven't consulted any charts for quite a while.)

 

[Touring Mars]

I just invested in a new eyepiece of the telescope... bit naughty, but after seeing what the standard eyepieces are capable of, I reckoned it was a justifiable purchase

Baader Hyperion 5mm eyepiece

A variety of focal lengths can be obtained from each Hyperion. A second focal length is easily acheived by removing the first group of lenses. Additional FL can then be acheived by purchasing a 14mm Fine Tuning Ring (FTR), 28mm FTR, combining the 14mm and 28mm FTR, and with 2" Baader Filter (height 8mm).

The effective FL of the 5mm eyepiece is as follows:

With 14mm FTR: 4mm
With 28mm FTR: 3.2mm
Combined FTR: 2.6mm
2" Baader filter: 4.3mm
Removing first group of lenses: 22.5mm

The Hyperion can be combined with a Baader adaptor ring to mount a camera directly onto the eyepiece. In addition, there are a large number of Baader adapting rings and fittings to make the Hyperion suitable for (almost) every task in astronomical - and nature - photography as a high quality projection optic or as a tele-extender. The Hyperions work as well for photographic applications as they do for visual use.

I'm hoping that it will be a big improvement on the (decent) views I am already getting - it has a larger field of view, and should give twice the magnification of my most powerful eyepiece without having to use the Barlow (which makes the image blurred and faint). I did some research and it looks like an excellent eyepiece for the money, with generally excellent reviews. But at £108 for a single lens, it is worth more than 50% the cost of the telescope itself, so I am hoping that it is worth the investment Still, it is highly adaptable and should be usable with any future 'scopes I might end up buying too 👍

 

[Touring Mars]

Excuse the double post please, but here's an example of something that you don't need a telescope to see - just alot of luck...

I saw this on Saturday night in Edinburgh - a 22 degree moon halo. I got perfect conditions - a thin layer of high, hazy cloud and a nearly full moon. Really impressive sight - much bigger than it looks in the pictures (like this one) that you might find on the web. Ironically, the only reason I saw this was because I went out to bring my telescope back inside, since it was clouding over... still, before that, I managed to see one of Jupiter's moons pass infront of the planet, and what looked like a shadow appearing on the planet itself.

My new eyepiece is a bit of a mixed bag... it gives a bigger image, but it isn't quite as sharp as I was hoping. But I reckon this is more to do with the seeing conditions, and not the eyepiece itself. With the new eyepiece, you can make out detail that you simply cannot see without it, but you still need to let your eyes adjust and spend quite some time looking before you can discern real detail...

 

[TB]

My turn for a few questions.

My son told me this weekend that he wants a telescope for his birthday, which gives me a week and a half to decide on one and, likely, have it shipped. In looking at 'scopes, I have to constantly remind myself that I'm looking for one for him, not me, because I always end up looking at the oh-crap-the-kids-are-headed-towards-the-🤬-expensive telescope models.

My criteria are: simple so a 6 year old, and likely a 4 year old, will be able to see at least something through it. Price range as close to $50USD as I can muster because of the aforementioned fear of knocking it over and being out $200+. At least for now.

The two that I've been looking at are Exhibits A and B. I'm leaning towards A because it comes with a tripod instead of just sitting on a table. Is that as big a deal as I'm making it out to be? Also, which am I better off focusing on - the 60 and 76mm apertures or the focal lengths?

Any other considerations and suggestions?

 

[FoolKiller]

If time is tight I know that in my local Walmart I have seen something similar to Exhibit A.

Just giving you a heads up so that you won't have to worry about shipping times, of course it will likely cost more than what Amazon is charging.

 

[TB]

If time is tight I know that in my local Walmart I have seen something similar to Exhibit A.

I looked at Wal*Mart this weekend but as he was with me it was a bit difficult to actually look look. In my glancing around I didn't find any so I might have to make a solo run tomorrow night.

 

[Touring Mars]

They both have pluses and minuses... the tripod is useful, since it means you can pretty much set up anywhere - the other one is fine if you have a table to rest it on, which will probably be the case most of the time, but perhaps could be a problem if you want to take it on holiday or on a day trip etc.

The tabletop one is probably going to give you better results - it's a reflector, has a larger aperture, and a shorter focal length - all of which mean more light. While the other one is going to give you higher magnifications, magnification really counts for little if the final image is too faint (or too blurred) to see.

The 4mm eyepiece is probably going to be very difficult to get anything out of, especially for kids. The 20 mm should give good results, but won't be huge magnification. The Barlow (with the refractor telescope) will reduce light even further, and while giving 3x mag., it will also produce blur/edge effects. As the main review suggests, a 10 mm eyepiece would be better than using the Barlow + 4mm eyepiece...

As such, this one may be a nice compromise, and still within budget...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002JNW734/?tag=gtplanet-20

It's a table top that can be stuck on a tripod too (apparently), but it also comes with a 10mm and a 20mm eyepiece - you can always add a Barlow (2x or 3x) later. Remember that any eyepieces you get/buy will be able to be used on any future purchases!

edit: Another consideration is that the first one (the refractor) should give you an upright image, meaning you can use it as a daytime scope too, whereas the reflector will produce inverted images (fine for astronomy, not good for daytime use!). As a result of the additional optics required to flip the image, the refractor will lose a bit of light, so as a purely astronomical scope, the reflector is the better choice.

 

[FoolKiller]

I looked at Wal*Mart this weekend but as he was with me it was a bit difficult to actually look look. In my glancing around I didn't find any so I might have to make a solo run tomorrow night.

In my local store they tend to be stacked against the front wall, the place you don't walk past until after you have checked out. They just redesigned our store too, so that may have been temporary.

You can check Walmart.com to see what is available in store. Or you could <shudder> ask a sales associate, and after pot infused ramblings, or old smoker's cough fits you may get a usable answer.

 

[TB]

The tabletop one is probably going to give you better results...

That's exactly what I thought, but I wanted to double check.

I went ahead and ordered the Celestron FirstScope. I figure that if I'm planning on going somewhere that doesn't have a tabletop I can finagle something together to attach it to my tripod.

In my local store they tend to be stacked against the front wall, the place you don't walk past until after you have checked out.

Now that you mention it, I think that's where they are here, too. Odd location to say the least.

Thanks for the help, guys. 👍